Recently when filming with Permaculture gardener Rosina Buckman, we asked her how she managed to grow her amazing vegetables in her raised bed gardens without importing a lot of expensive soil. These tanks were raised off the ground and faced a sunny spot right out at the front of her house....

Rosina Buckman’s front garden is right out on the suburban street. A number of corrugated colour-bond Zincalume planter beds dot her front garden. Rosina is keen on growing food in her raised beds. Lettuce and herbs spill out of her tanks as she exuberantly explains how she keeps the...

Most people when siting their house want to take advantage of the available commanding views. So you commonly see people positioning their homes on the highest point on their land. But that’s not necessarily the best place to site your home if you are into Permaculture and your aim is...

The term “swale” is often used by Permaculture people when designing large earth work constructions but it’s very rarely spoken of in an urban setting. What is a swale anyway? Well its commonly defined as “a water harvesting ditch on contour.” Imagine it as a...

Recently in Sydney we met Charles Bacon from Ecolicious who builds Aquaponics systems that are cleverly disguised to look like natural ponds. A pond builder for many years, Charles likes to use as many easy to find components as possible. Some of his designs are quite clever too. The...

Permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton scrambles through a clump of reeds perched over a some large boulders and gingerly steps over a pond choked with Duckweed and Salvinia floating on the surface. You can hear the frogs croaking in the background. Birds are singing in the trees. He peels back a...

Colourful TV personality Costa Georgiadis told a packed audience yesterday how he was asked by the TV Network to attend the annual television Logie awards – but he knocked back the special occasion because of his prior engagement with Permaculture. You see, Costa had promised Leonie...

It’s National Permaculture Day on May 1, 2011. Apart from being a system of growing fresh food all year round, the rise of permaculture is also knitting communities together who help each other establish productive gardens and share knowledge, information and friendship. Here at...

For some people, aquaponics should be aesthetically pleasing and resemble a natural ecosystem as much as possible. It should blend in with their landscaping and not be intrusive. Some people don’t like the idea of growing fish in large tanks believing they look too much like a factory...

One of the advantages of doing aquaponics is that it gives you the knowledge of how a natural system works. For Les and Annette Mulder it was only a natural progression to apply their knowledge of fish farming to their 55,000 liter chlorinated swimming pool located in Sydney. Les switched off...

Keeping chickens in an Urban environment is something a lot of people would like to have, but when it comes to roosters – people baulk at the idea knowing their neighbors wont like it. After all, who can blame them when they’re trying to get some sleep? Roosters are known to crow...

Filming various homes in Sydney for the Urban Permaculture DVD with Geoff Lawton reveals just what a wealth of Permaculture innovation there truly is. We really need to praise Penny Pyett from Permaculture North for organizing some very special show gardens for us to visit this week. Penny...